Employer Story - Cody Ellingham from Hortplus

HortPlus has pioneered the development of digital tools for agriculture to enable more sustainable agriculture.

Their digital platform is powered by a robust weather data network and innovative technology, providing a bridge between science and industry to help achieve sustainability and moving agriculture into the future.

When interns join the HortPlus team, they are working on technology projects that enable sustainable agriculture. We spoke with Cody Ellingham, Product Designer & Business Development at HortPlus, about the Summer of Tech programme and the difference interns make to their business. 

How long have you been hiring Summer of Tech interns/grads?

2 years, our first cohort was in 2020. It’s our 3rd round this year.

Why do you hire interns? 

There’s an opportunity with the work we do, to bring people in who are new to the industry or haven’t had commercial experience. We can introduce them to the value of the work we’re doing. People are looking for something to align with and sustainability and the environment are so important right now. They’ve already got technical skills, the courses are comprehensive, but we can support them and give some guidance.

It’s great to get new people coming in, we learn from them, and they learn from us.

They can see how their work can have a tangible impact in an important industry for NZ. 

What value does an intern/grad bring to the team?

There are technical skills, which are great, but it’s the energy, the “vibe” you get working with people who are ready to make a difference and want to jump in and do some great work.

What did you look for in an intern?

People who have the desire to learn. To push themselves further and take what they’ve learned through formal training and activate it! We love seeing people who have done personal projects, working on things outside the classroom, on open source projects. 

We also look for people who are motivated and ready to give things a go. 

How has hiring an intern helped your business?

It’s formalised a lot of our processes, over the past couple of years we’ve got to the point we can onboard people easily onto our systems and the way we do things. 

That’s helped us when hiring other staff too, fresh thinking helps when we’re taking on new challenges!

Would you be interested in getting interns again in the future? Why?

Our plan is every year we want to have an internship programme; we’re keen to develop it a bit further. It's been ad hoc but moving forward, as our company grows and develops, we can formalise it a little bit so that the programme includes joining our team, visiting our customer sites, and different activities so that it’s not just behind the computer. 

What has been the highlight of your work with the intern so far?

Last year we had two interns and we completed a major overhaul of our MetWatch platform. The two interns were part of the project and made a huge difference to our business and went on to become employees. It was a massive project and has really changed our business.

What skills do you look for in a candidate?

There are soft skills and technical ones. Sound engineering skills, people who are able to look at the back end and the front end. Communication skills, being able to talk through what they’re doing. Courses often help them have the ability to talk through their solutions. An eye for “architecture” or how things fit together.  We’ve got a lot of different systems, so seeing how they work together is really important.

What is your top tip for a student interviewing for an internship? 

We love to see personal projects, even if it’s unrelated, that’s a huge tick in my books, “Here is an app I worked on in my free time”. Talk about that first, show your initiative, even if it’s not finished. It can show how you’ve applied your learning to your own projects.

How did you find the Summer of Tech platform and the recruitment process?

It is great. We messaged people and organised phone calls and in-person meetings from our shortlist. It was standard recruitment, but the platform gave us everything we needed from an employer perspective. Overall, we love it. The Meet & Greets went digital last year so that made it hard. We are looking forward to in-person events this year.

Any tips for other small teams who might be thinking about hiring interns?

Just do it! 

We joined late in 2020, but it was great, we got two interns in our first year, and they were amazing. There are extra things you can do, and in-person Meet & Greets might be a big commitment, but I’d encourage you to sign up and connect with candidates to make a start.

HortPlus Summer of Tech Interns:

Bailey (2020)

Bailey worked closely with HortPlus during his internship period and continued to work in their team while returning to university to complete the final year of study in 2021. Bailey has learned the ropes and has contributed massively to their systems including working on the MetWatch Weather & Disease Platform, the admin tools, and the authentication API. Bailey's biggest contribution has been his help with the architecture of their systems.

Alongside his work at HortPlus, Bailey is now undertaking a Doctorate programme focused on data provenance at Victoria University of Wellington. He is focussing on an exciting area of research, finding ways to improve software systems' explainability, accountability and safety.

Bailey said about working at HortPlus:

"Working here has provided a lot of freedom and flexibility that you would be hard-pressed to get in other software companies. I enjoy working in a focused team where everyone is involved directly in the process."

Thomas (2021)

Thomas joined HortPlus in November 2021 through the Summer of Tech internship programme, supported by Callaghan Innovation and has since become a full-time member of their growing team!

Initially, Thomas dove into developing spatial and map-based systems on both the front-end and back-end alongside the rest of our team. He has since taken on the exciting challenge of full-stack development. He's helped build out one of the new weather data ingestion engines that powers the HortPlus MetWatch decision support tools.

Thomas said about working at HortPlus: 

"I was not stuck working in a sandbox and was able to jump in and start working on real systems quite quickly. It feels good to be hands-on, making a difference to businesses and people."

Find out more about HortPlus on their website: www.hortplus.com.